Pine Beach Golf Links in Haenam, South Korea, opened for play very quietly in February. This resort track is one of a half dozen Golfplan designs that have opened in South Korea since 2005.
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Some are comparing the seaside layout to its inspiration and mirror image across the Pacific – Pebble Beach.
“It’s sort of blasphemous and borderline naïve for an architect to discuss any project in the same breath as Pebble Beach, but the comparisons were obvious and apt before we built any golf holes at Pine Beach,” said Golfplan partner David Dale, who directed the project. “The rocky cliffs, the beaches below, the towering headlands with the natural green sites already in place. Just look at the pictures. They speak volumes but, honestly, they don’t do justice to the setting or the course.”
Of all the Golfplan projects on the Korean peninsula, the firm’s latest creation takes best advantage of that peninsula. Located on the west coast, in Haenam, near Gwangju, Pine Beach boasts what Dale calls one of the finest natural golfing sites to come along in the last 50 years. With its 10 holes perched directly on the rocky cliff tops (Pebble Beach boasts 9) and smaller peninsulas extending 200 meters into the sea (perfect for dramatic par-3s, a la Cypress Point), the par-72, 7,290-yard Pine Beach GL is poised to take the world golf scene by storm.
“To be honest, the inland terrain at Pine Beach is better than Pebble’s,” Dale said. “It’s just more dramatic physically, more akin to what you’d find at Spyglass. Just call the whole place Monterey East.”
Dale routed the 18 holes at Pine Beach to take maximum advantage of the site’s extraordinary physical characteristics. Of course, no opportunity for exposure to the coastline was wasted. At 16 – a 430-yard dogleg par-4 with the Yellow Sea forming a briny hazard all along the right side – Dale built a retaining wall to allow tee-placement directly at cliff’s edge. The result is one of the most formidable forced sea-carries in golf.
The 15th is another par-3 that plays across open water, this time to a peninsular green setting that quickly summons thoughts of Cypress Point. The front side has its own collection of seaside holes — the 370-yard, par-4 9th sweeps along the sea before doglegging uphill to the Gene Park-designed clubhouse; the 190-yard, par-3 8th plays downhill to green where the backdrop is pure blue sea and the penalty for going long is a steep plunge into oblivion.
However, early in the round, the mere glimpses of these coastal holes prove nearly as intriguing as the holes themselves.
“This is part of what I mean about the inland property being so special,” Dale continued. “It’s wonderful, wildly undulating golfing terrain. When you get a peak at the sea from the elevated tee box at no. 3, for example, it’s thrilling. From the 5th green you get the first full panorama of the ocean holes you’re about to play: The 7th, 8th and 9th, plus the 17th and 18th beyond. You just don’t get that sort of anticipatory moment at Pebble, or any course without serious elevation changes inland.”